Got the same email a lot of other people may have gotten. Bummer. Hopefully a few people from here got GREAT NEWS!
I want to thank you for taking the time to apply to be a mountain goat ground removal volunteer at Olympic National Park. The response to the call for volunteers was overwhelming, to say the least. When I pulled together all the individual emails and paper copies that came in the mail, I ended up with over 1,200 group applications.
I know the application was not a quick and easy endeavor to complete, and I am grateful for the time and effort that you put into completing the application. I am sorry that it has taken me so long to get back to you, but I needed the time to carefully pull together all the emails into group application packets, and then read and evaluate them all.
The pool of applicants that I received was very impressive, and I regret that I can accept so few. As I described in the webpage, I evaluated all the applications, and pulled out those that were the most highly qualified. From that pool I then did a random draw of 40 applications, asked some colleagues from the NPS and WDFW to review that more restricted pool, and selected 21 groups (yes – 3 more than I originally intended).
As I am sure you can surmise, unfortunately your application was not selected.
I am sorry for the form letter nature of this email, but I know that people want to hear if they were selected as soon as possible, and this is the quickest way I can reach out to everyone.
I am only emailing the group leader (or the team member that corresponded with me if the leader did not supply an email or I could not read their writing). Please pass this email on to the rest of you team members for me.
Thank you again for offering to assist Olympic National Park and our partners in implementing our mountain goat management plan.
Patti Happe
Wildlife Branch Chief
Olympic National Park
600 E Park Ave
Port Angeles WA 98362